Tag: brain

It’s the holidays and many of us are scrambling around trying to find that perfect gift for someone special (or, maybe just ANY gift at this point!) While it may feel like a chore to pick out a gift, giving someone a gift is actually good for your brain! That’s right, not only is it fun to receive gifts, when you give a gift it’s proven to have a positive effect on your mental well-being!

Studies at the National Institutes of Health found that gift-giving activates different regions in your brain linked to pleasure, social connection and trust, which is good for the overall health of your brain. What’s more, when you give, you also tend to create an atmosphere of generosity, increasing the likelihood that others around you will be more generous too! (Yeah, this could work in your favor!)

Before you rush to the first item you see, keep in mind that the positive effects will be more powerful if you give a gift that is meaningful. And, who doesn’t want to challenge their brain? Fit Brains has something to offer everyone. And, with the most games and variety of any brain training program on the market, it’s sure to entertain anyone.

It’s National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month and National Family Caregivers Month! We thank the 15 million+ Alzheimer’s and dementia caregivers in America.

What is Alzheimer’s?

Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia, kills brain cells and interferes with cognitive abilities, emotions, behaviour and physical skills. It’s not a regular part of aging. And it’s a progressively debilitating disease that leads to death.

The Numbers

Did you know 47 million people worldwide and 5.3 million Americans have Alzheimer’s? Every 67 seconds an American develops this disease. Alzheimer’s is the 6th leading cause of death in the US. It can’t be cured or slowed unlike the other 9 leading causes of death. And two-thirds of Alzheimer’s patients are women.

But There Is Hope

Even though there isn’t a cure, drugs and certain actions can manage the disease. Also, research shows that lifestyle factors and a positive outlook can help with brain aging. Recent UK study results conducted by the BBC, Alzheimer’s Society and the Medical Research Council indicate that regular brain training can benefit people over the age of 50. Findings from another well known study reveal that adults who learn new skills and do mentally stimulating activities like crosswords usually have lower rates of dementia. The notable Nun study indicates that an optimistic mind provides a natural defence against Alzheimer’s. And, here’s a twist, even though some nuns actually had the disease, they showed no outward symptoms, thanks to keeping their brains active and positive! Brain training can help maintain brain function and help prevent cognitive decline.

Quick Tips to Maintain Brain Function and Prevent Cognitive Decline

Hit the Gym

Nosh on a Healthy Diet

As Pharrel Williams Sings, Be Happy!

Challenge Your Mind with our fun free games! [hyperlink]

What is your favorite activity to boost your brain? Tell us in the comments! And follow our blog for more lifestyle & health tips.

You may feel perfectly healthy, but your brain is shrinking and you are losing as much as 0.4% of your brain mass every.single.year. Obviously this isn’t good news. A shrinking brain means loss of memory and mental sharpness, severe depression and even premature death (cue the sound of that machete-wielding maniac).

Take heart on this darkest of days. There are things you can do to prevent your brain from shrinking further and improve your brain health!

Get a good night’s sleep (every night). This is critical. Every hour of reduced sleep duration= a 0.67% decrease in cognitive function!

Don’t smoke. I don’t think we need to go into much more detail about this one, but we’ll just add that smoking is associated with faster brain shrinkage and poor brain health.

Feel free to indulge in a little light alcohol consumption (this is our favorite tip), but don’t overdue or you’ll only make things worse for your brain (not to mention your liver…) A standard drink= 14.0 grams or 0.6 ounces of pure alcohol.

Supplement with B vitamins, specifically a combination of folate, vitamin B12 and vitamin B6. B vitamins regulate homocysteine, which if unchecked, can lead to significant brain shrinkage and dementia.

Now, more than ever before, people are taking the time to learn about the human brain and the many ways they can improve their brain health. Brain health is about more than disease prevention (though that’s obviously important too); it’s about leading a lifestyle, supported by science, which promotes and facilitates cognitive, emotional, physical ability, spiritual health, and relational health (read: relationships). Basically when you focus on brain health you can live your life to the fullest.

But what does it look like to actually put this into practice? We’re devoting some upcoming posts to lay out specific suggestions for improving your brain health, based on research from Dr. Nussbaum’s Brain Health Lifestyle (see www.paulnussbaum.com). Our first post in this series focuses on physical activity to improve your brain health.

When it comes to physical activity, studies conducted by the University of Adelaide, Australia, have shown that a single 30 minute session of physical activity benefits your brain (as reported in Medical Daily). Researchers say physical activity makes your brain more “plastic”, which can help things like memory, motor skills and learning in general. It also increases circulation, which helps for more efficient delivery of nutrients and the like. That’s probably worth getting out the stationary bike for, right? There are lots of different ways you can move to benefit your brain though!

Here are some of our favorite suggestions for exercise to boost your brain health:

Walk a mile daily

Up the ante with aerobics 3 times a week (yeah, break out that old Jane Fonda video)

Dance!

Try some mild weight training

Try Yoga, Pilates, Barre (or whatever they come out with next!)

Basically, whatever you do, DON’T JUST SIT THERE!

What type of physical activity gives your brain the biggest boost? Tell us in the comments! Be sure to follow our blog for more lifestyle & health tips. And, you can always benefit your brain when you play Fit Brains fun brain games! Try Fit Brains for FREE now!

We’ve added 9 brain games, 1 for 6 core brain areas plus 3 in the new Emotional Intelligence category. You can stimulate not just your Memory, Focus, Language, Thinking Speed and Visual-Spatial skills but also Self-Awareness, Self-Control and Social Awareness skills. Studies show that these abilities are the key to success, happiness and health. We have the most games on the market with 70+ and the widest variety. Can you beat the top scores? Play with Mood Matcher, Color Control, Circle Count and more.

2. THE TRAINER: Improved Cognitive Training

We’re not just a pretty face, our Fit Brains trainer got a complete makeover. It’s more engaging, higher quality and easier to understand. Train with over 500+ personalized sessions. Target specific areas of your brain with our new “Customize Training” option. And track your scores with the new “Training Results Screen”. Curious? Check it out.

3. THE GAMECHANGER: New Emotional Intelligence Training! (Beta)

We’re the World’s first comprehensive Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and Cognitive brain trainer. Emotional Intelligence is the ability to understand and manage your emotions as well as the emotions of others. Our goal is to provide an All-In-One Holistic approach for brain health and performance by combining Cognitive and EQ training. Your brain is ‘plastic’, thus, like your IQ, your EQ can also change and improve. Studies show that EQ can be improved more than 50%.

We added a whole new area for EQ: Self Awareness, Self Control and Social Awareness. Another section, Social Skills, will be added soon.

Self Control: the ability to control and manage our impulses, appropriate or otherwise. It affects how we fit into our communities and social circles, as well as how we grow and better ourselves.

Self Awareness: the ability to recognize and understand our own emotions which affects our sense of identity and general well-being.

Social Awareness: the ability to understand the moods and emotional responses of others. It helps improve social interaction and builds stronger social bonds.

Key Benefits of Emotional Intelligence

A More Happy, Healthy, Successful You

Stronger Relationships

Improved Health and Less Stress

Better Decision Making

Main Predictor of Job Success

Higher Salary Potential

Want a better quality of life? Rewire your brain. Rewrite your life story. Discover an easy and quick way to challenge your mind!Get started for FREE now! You’ll love the results…and our games!